Cuckoo!

In April come he will
 In May he'll sing a lay
 In June he'll change his tune
 In July away he'll fly
 In August go he must

 I've known this little rhyme since I was a child and yesterday morning I discovered that the line 'In June he'll change his tune' is absolutely true. I heard two cuckoos calling all the way round on our walk on Blackamoor and mostly it was the usual 'Cuckoo' but every so often I heard instead 'Cuck-Cuckoo'. I'm so glad that we still have at least two cuckoos around, I did think that there might be three but I can't be sure of that.

The wildflowers are wonderful at the moment, this is Pink Campion, Queen Anne's Lace and the wonderful aniseed scented Sweet Cicely beautifully set off by the dry stone wall. A couple of pieces of Sweet Cicely stewed with fruit (especially rhubarb) will allow you to use half the usual amount of sugar. You do need to be careful though as it is very similar to the highly poisonous hemlock. The hemlock has red spots on its stems though and lacks the wonderful aniseed scent of Sweet Cicely which is present in the leaves, flowers,and seed heads. I always squeeze the flowers when I pass as I love the smell of aniseed.

I like this photo because it looks as though B Baggins is smelling the flowers:)

Some of the fields are a sea of beautiful golden buttercups at the moment, they look just fabulous and the camera doesn't do them justice.

On the higher part of the moor there is lots and lots of crosswort - its always there but this year I've seen more of it than usual.

The May blossom is everywhere - I love to catch the scent on the breeze but close up it becomes rather overpowering. Always beautiful though. This is just a taste of the English countryside, next time we'll be back in Spain.